Posts tagged tompkins county

Applications for Sustainable Tompkins 2022 Spring Neighborhood Mini-Grants Due April 01

Mar 8th

Posted by gay in ST Events

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Do you have an idea for a project to make our community more sustainable, resilient, or inclusive? Need a little help covering the costs? Apply for a Neighborhood Mini-Grant!

We are accepting applications for our Spring round of Neighborhood Mini-Grants through April 01, 2022. Our Neighborhood Mini-Grant program supports initiatives improving ecological stewardship, community well-being, and economic justice in Tompkins County. Since 2008, we have awarded more than $82,000 in 208 small grants to innovative grassroots projects throughout the county.

Ranging from $150 to $750, awards support initiatives promoting sustainable food systems, alternative transportation, waste reduction or reuse, energy conservation, fossil fuel use reduction, environmental education, and addressing social and economic inequality. Individuals, organizations, and neighborhood groups in Tompkins County are welcome to apply, as are local microbusinesses seeking to green their operations or extend their products or services to low-income clientele. Priority is given to small and/or new entities with relatively few sources of support.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Lansing Communergy Group Gets Underway

Nov 10th

Posted by gay in Events

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Lansing Communergy meetings are on 4th Tuesdays at 7 pm in the Lansing Community Library.

Lansing Communergy meetings are on 4th Tuesdays at 7 pm in the Lansing Community Library.

Renewable energy has a way of generating excitement and joy in people – along with its clean power for our homes and businesses.  Sustainable Tompkins has been expanding our programming for the Finger Lakes Energy Challenge by hosting monthly meetings for residents in the Village and Town of Lansing where we are looking at the possibilities of investing in community-owned sources of clean energy.  It’s been a lot of fun as we get to know each other, and sense our own power to help Lansing reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.

We began in August by showing ‘Empowered’ – a film by ST board member Shira Evergreen about the many ways county residents are leading the way on climate protection.  In September, we hosted Solarize Tompkins and learned the details of their 2014 round for group purchasing of solar electric systems and how our Lansing group can participate.  In October, we agreed to form 3 working groups to support the countywide solar electric program, organize our own solar hot water group purchase, and begin researching how we can do a pilot community-owned microhydro project on Salmon Creek.  We believe that forming these smaller community-based teams will let us grow the movement for locally-owned clean energy and provide a setting for inspiring efficiency investments and conservation measures.

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Community-owned Power Gets a Boost in Lansing

Sep 3rd

Posted by gay in Events

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Solarize Lansing header

We believe the surest way out of both our climate crisis and our fossil fuel dependency is to work together at the community level to restructure our energy systems and our economic systems.  Yes, we need national leadership and massive shifts in infrastructure; but we also need to shift the culture and our belief systems about what is possible.  Sustainable Tompkins advocates the pursuit of a “virtuous cycle” where we work together to repeatedly Reduce fossil energy consumption, Offset what we can’t avoid using, and Invest in locally-owned renewable energy systems.  Our programs are designed to keep us working together, moving through this cycle again and again as we make steady progress toward our goal of a clean energy economy.  This fall Sustainable Tompkins is bringing our message to the Town of Lansing which is in the midst of a heated debate about the wisdom of converting their local coal power plant to natural gas.  On Fourth Tuesdays in August, September, and October, ST is hosting pubic meetings at the Lansing Community Library and sharing how homeowners, businesses, and local governments are saving energy dollars and making investments for a more energy secure future.

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Local Climate Partners Rally for “Chasing Ice”

Dec 14th

Posted by gay in Events

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Even as we might be tempted to relax and enjoy this mild December weather, New Yorkers understand we have to invigorate a collective response to the multiple threats that climate change poses to our security and our economy.

Under the leadership of Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, Sustainable Tompkins is working with a coalition of Cortland and Tompkins County nonprofits, colleges, businesses, and local governments to support ongoing planning and action to make our region more climate friendly and climate resilient.  The Lifton climate coalition has been meeting to plan a major regional conference focused on how our local governments, institutions, and businesses can both lower fossil carbon emissions and prepare for multiple impacts of a turbulent climate regime.  The ‘Climate Smart & Climate Ready’ conference will take place April 19-21, 2013.

We invite you to join us in this regional conversation at the Ithaca premiere of ‘Chasing Ice’ at Cinemapolis on Friday, December 21 at 6:45 pm.  This award-winning documentary by James Balog was created from years of time-lapse filming under the extreme conditions of the planet’s polar regions.

Originally a climate skeptic, Balog encountered the undeniable evidence of global warming on his first visit to Iceland in 2005.  What he saw made him realize the scope of the greatest risk that humanity has ever taken, and he decided to launch the Extreme Ice Survey and capture multiple years of arctic climate change on film.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Ithaca is Sunny

Oct 30th

Posted by gay in Local Signs

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New information released by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority this fall further confirms that Tompkins County is indeed a Solar Capital, in terms of installed photovoltaics (PV) per capita. In the last 5 years, 310 PV systems have been installed statewide using NYSERDA incentives. Tompkins County leads NY both in kilowatts of photovoltaics installed, at 287, and in total number of systems, at 36. This represents over $2 million in investments, and does not include the many existing off-grid systems. New information released by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority this fall further confirms that Tompkins County is indeed a Solar Capital, in terms of installed photovoltaics (PV) per capita. In the last 5 years, 310 PV systems have been installed statewide using NYSERDA incentives. Tompkins County leads NY both in kilowatts of photovoltaics installed, at 287, and in total number of systems, at 36. This represents over $2 million in investments, and does not include the many existing off-grid systems. Read the rest of this entry »

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